Tag Archives: National Association of Realtors

Vacation home sales rose in 2013 as investment purchases retreated from levels observed in previous years, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented that as market conditions return to normal, investors must now evaluate their purchases more carefully—and judiciously.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the homeownership rate among those under 25 was 36.8 percent, according to the Census Bureau—only a little more than half the national rate of 65.2 percent. Compare that to as recently as 2008, when the rate among young adults was at or above 41 percent. Generation Y remains, as ever, a difficult group to nail down.

In a letter addressed Tuesday to FHA commissioner Carol Galante, National Association of Realtors (NAR) president Steve Brown says the administration’s decision to increase annual mortgage insurance premiums and to require mortgage insurance over a loan’s entire life are putting home purchases “increasingly out of reach for many qualified borrowers who rely on FHA financing.”

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported yet another monthly decline in its measure of pending home sales, indicating continued softness in future sales figures. According to the latest monthly report, the group’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)—a metric based on contract signings—dipped 0.8 percent in February to a reading of 93.9, its lowest point since October 2011. It was the eighth decline in as many months.

Move, Inc. filed a suit Monday against Zillow, Inc. and newly hired Zillow executive Errol Samuelson. The suit was filed in the Superior Court of King County, Washington.

According to the National Association of Realtor’s sales data, total existing-home sales—including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops—declined 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.60 million, matching a consensus forecast among economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Following January’s decline, February took the new record for having the slowest sales pace since July 2012.

Higher housing costs took another bite out of sales activity in California in February, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) reported Monday. Compiling data from more than 90 local Realtor associations and listing services statewide, C.A.R. determined sales of existing, single-family homes last month came to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 361,210, marking the fourth straight month that sales were below the 400,000 level.

According to the National Association of Realtors' Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study for 2014, Millennials—aka “Generation Y” or “Generation Next”—comprised 31 percent of recent purchases, leading all other age groups. Following that were Generation X (defined as those born between 1965 and 1979), which made up 30 percent.

The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, edged up 0.1 percent to an even 95 last month as regional gains and declines offset each other. While it was hardly a banner report, January’s gain at least turned around the prior month’s originally reported 8.7 percent decline to 92.4, the lowest reading since November 2011.

Existing-home sales slowed last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million—their lowest level in a year and a half—as ongoing inventory constraint lifted prices, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Friday. The drop represents a 5.1 percent decline compared to both December and January last year. On just the single-family side, sales were down to a rate of 4.05 million.